I saw a headline this morning from the NY Times that suggested Trump was willing to just settle for a nuclear freeze instead of denuclearization. Instead of running with it, I decided to wait and see what happened.
Didn’t have to wait long:
POLITICO – White House National Security Adviser John Bolton on Monday dismissed reports that the administration is considering agreeing to a “freeze” of North Korea’s nuclear weapons arsenal as opposed to a more comprehensive denuclearization pact.
Prior to President Donald Trump’s meeting Sunday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — where Trump became the first sitting commander-in-chief to step into the isolated, communist state — the New York Times reported that administration officials had been mulling a deal with Pyongyang to halt production of new nuclear material as a way to kickstart another round of talks with Kim’s regime.
But the head of Trump’s National Security Council slammed the Times story, writing online that “there should be consequences” for its publishing. Bolton did not specify whether it was the Times or whoever its source was that should face those penalties.
“I read this NYT story with curiosity. Neither the NSC staff nor I have discussed or heard of any desire to ‘settle for a nuclear freeze by NK,’” Bolton tweeted, describing the report as “a reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the President.”
The New York Times pushed back against this with a statement saying they are confident in the accuracy of their reporting.
Here’s the tweet from Bolton:
I read this NYT story with curiosity. Neither the NSC staff nor I have discussed or heard of any desire to “settle for a nuclear freeze by NK.” This was a reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the President. There should be consequences. https://t.co/TTRPQkksza
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) July 1, 2019
Note that Bolton says there should be consequences for this “reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the President”.
If Bolton is right, it sounds like there are some in the administration that still want to damage Trump by making it look like he’s going back on his word because he’s been unsuccessful to get Kim to denuclearize.